According to Inspector General of Police corrupt policemen make up only about 1-2% of the police force, which has around 75,000 personnel in its ranks. He pledged to establish a respectable police force by 2009 when he assumed duties as the IGP. Contrary to expectations, a number of rapes have been committed by his own men in the recent past. The latest incident was reported from Trincomalee, where a mother and daughter were raped by police personnel. There was an earlier incident where police officers are alleged to have gang raped a young woman at a cemetery. In addition, information has also come to light of officers who sneak into the houses of suspects in custody and rape their wives, or solicit sex from the wives of the suspects after intimidating them.

By Gayan Kumara Weerasingha@ LBN/ Sunday September 28th, 2008

Inspector General of Police Jayantha Wickramarathna pledged to establish a respectable police force when he assumed duties as the IGP. But a disappointing factor is that a number of rapes have been committed by his own men in the recent past.

He drew up plans to provide a respectable police service before he retires. Therefore, 2009 has been set aside as the year for formulating a respectable police force. Contrary to expectations, the IGP was now facing a dilemma as to how to establish such a respectable police force. He has come to realise that this is not such a simple task. According to him corrupt policemen make up only about 1-2% of the police force, which has around 75,000 personnel in its ranks. The latest incident was reported from Trincomalee, where a mother and daughter were raped by police personnel.

The incident occurred last Sunday. The mother and daughter were Tamils. The mother is said to be nearly 50 years, while the daughter was around 20- years- old.

They were residents of Batticaloa. However, the daughter is married to a Sinhalese resident from Uppuveli in Trincomalee. He has a house in the ‘Alicewattha’ area in Uppuveli. The house had been locked up after he had gone abroad. The mother and daughter as a rule visited the house once a month to clean it.

Last Sunday, they had traveled from Batticaloa to Trincomalee as usual to clean up the house, and then return to Batticaloa, but what happened was totally unexpected. They were raped by four policemen.

The alleged rapists were an officer, a sergeant and three constables attached to the Alicewattha police post in Trincomalee. The victims had been raped at “Prakash Hotel” located close to the police post.

According to reliable information, the sergeant and one of the constables had first taken the two women into the hotel and raped them. Thereafter, the two constables had followed The hotel staff have also given statements to the police to the effect that the two women had been brought to the hotel and raped.

Accordingly, the police arrested the four police personnel and produced them before courts. The four of them were remanded.This is just a single incident which had taken place recently. Many such incidents are said to be taking place in the country, but, only one or two of these are reported.

Another example of such a crime is the case of an alleged child molestation committed by an Officer in Charge of a police station in the southern province. The victim was a 15- year- old boy. His father was a carpenter by profession. The child had been molested inside the office of the OIC.

Not recorded

It is said that while the OIC was traveling in his police area, he had seen this boy riding a bicycle. He had then picked up the boy and taken him in his jeep to the police station and kept him there all night. However, this fact has not been recorded in the police log book.

The father had then lodged a complaint about the incident to the police. Accordingly, the SSP in charge of the area had ordered an investigation to be carried out under an ASP.

The OIC had subsequently disappeared. The officers who were conducting the investigation said that he had gone into hiding. Meanwhile police authorities had then classified him as a police deserter, as he had failed to report for duty without informing. While all this was happening, the OIC emerged from being in hiding for over a month. He went to courts after contacting the father and child who had lodged a complaint against him. He wanted to get himself acquitted of the charge on the basis that the complaint had been false. Nevertheless, the entire police force in the southern province was aware of what had actually taken place. It is said that the officer, who has political backing, may actually come back as an OIC.

Another OIC is currently in remand custody for raping a young woman who was the same age as his daughter. He is an OIC of a police station in the western province, and had acquired a reputation for solving a large number of crimes.

In another incident, a charge was also leveled last week against a police constable from the Galle police station. This was regarding the rape of a mentally retarded woman. The victim had lived in a neighbouring house close to the residence of the constable. A complaint of the rape had been received on the 119 emergency hotline. The constable was arrested and remanded after an investigation was carried out by the Galle police. An incident of a police constable trying to rape a woman police constable was also recently reported from the Mt. Lavinia Police.

The constable had taken the woman officer to a temple in Moratuwa, and tried to rape her inside a room in the temple. The officer, who is attached to the Mt. Lavinia police, is currently in remand custody. There was another recent incident, in which a police team had raped some women who were engaged in prostitution. They had raped the women having intimidated them and taken them to a hotel. A police sergeant, a constable, and a member of the civil defence force are suspects in this case.

There was an earlier incident where police officers are alleged to have gang raped a young woman at a cemetery. In addition, information has also come to light of officers who sneak into the houses of suspects in custody and rape their wives, or solicit sex from the wives of the suspects after intimidating them.